Office of the Vice President
Community Standards, Health and Accessibility
Support student success and the well-being of students by empowering them to attain personal, physical, and emotional health and well-being, supporting and improving accessibility through accommodations and inclusive practices, promoting community health and illness prevention, financial education, and access to basic needs. Also provide access to educational opportunities to local students, educate campus community members about community conduct standards and assist in the development of students as good citizen.
Christy Samarkos
Associate Vice President for Campus & Community Partnerships
Christy Samarkos, whose professional career in Student Affairs spans more than 20
years, served in a number of progressively responsible roles at SDSU before being
appointed Interim Vice President for Student Affairs. She has a broad range of leadership
achievements and expertise in academic preparation; student advising, counseling,
leadership training and development; co-curricular and multicultural programming;
and staff development.
Samarkos, who has invested 20 years of her career at SDSU, is an advocate of student leadership development and success. Driven by collaboration and authentic leadership, Samarkos has devoted her career to advancing and adopting research-driven and data-informed practices that help ensure that programs and initiatives drive each student's propensity for personal, academic and, ultimately, career success.
Under Samarkos' leadership, the Division has continued to grow and also introduced a number of initiatives to build a community of support and leadership participation aimed at improving students' overall persistence and graduation rates. Key strategic priorities have included the expansion of academic and psycho/social support for underrepresented student groups, experiences promoting student involvement and efforts to close the achievement gap among student groups.
While Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Samarkos oversaw the strategic planning and operations for four departments within the Division: the Center for Intercultural Relations, New Student & Parent Programs, Residential Education and the Dean of Students. She also oversaw several additional Division of Student Affairs programs and units collectively responsible for developing and providing transformational experiences for students and worked closely with the Associated Students, the independent student-directed corporation affiliated with SDSU.
Prior to her appointment as Associate Vice President for Student Affairs, Samarkos served as SDSU's Director of Residential Education.
Samarkos holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in social work from Concordia College in Minnesota, a Bachelor of Science in special education from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and a Master of Science in counseling with a specialization in college student personnel from Shippensburg University.
